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Nestled in the south west of England, the county of Dorset is home to some of the finest agricultural land in the UK. Travelling though the countryside gives you a glimpse of the diversity of agricultural activity.
Much of the farming activity is a mixture of arable, dairy, beef and sheep, with many farms diversified across a range of farming enterprises. Farmers here are working in conjunction with water management organisations to improve water quality and the efficiency of farm inputs, such as fertiliser and pesticides.
Wessex Water, a privately owned regional water and sewage company, is responsible for providing drinking water to about 1.3m people in the southwest of England. About 80% of the water supplied comes from groundwater sources in counties Dorset and Wiltshire, which is filtered through rock such as limestone, chalk and sandstone.
Free-draining
The soils in this region of the UK are predominately free-draining, which poses particular challenges for water quality from an agricultural perspective. While Wessex Water does operate some water treatment plants, this method of dealing with poor quality water is both expensive to build and operate, but also has a large carbon footprint.
Since 2005, Wessex Water has been taking an alternative approach by establishing water catchment programmes and working with local farmers and landowners within the catchment areas of public water supply boreholes and reservoirs.
The aim of the initiative is to implement a cost-effective safeguard for the quality of ground water and surface waters, which are the primary source of drinking water supplied to the public.
Wessex Water’s catchment management objective is to stabilise and then reduce the levels of containment at each source so no additional treatment is required. The company works in partnership with local farmers which allows them to influence and implement changes in agricultural land use and practice in a bid to reduce the levels of nitrate and pesticide entering the ground and surface water environments.
Wessex Water employs catchment advisers who are trained to offer agronomic advice to farmers. Advisers make direct contact with farmers, particularly in areas of high risk, to discuss the issues facing nearby water sources and raise awareness of the problems agriculture can create in water systems, be that nitrates or pesticide residue.
Catchment programme
The majority of farmers appreciate working with the catchment programme and recognise the service being provided to them by the catchment advisers. Besides protecting the local environment, farmers also see that there is the additional benefit of efficiency gains if they can avoid unnecessary loss of fertiliser nutrients and pesticide runoff.
From speaking with farmers in the catchment areas, it would appear they have a very good working relationship with their catchment adviser. Farmers spoke of finding the process thought-provoking and the results have been informative for helping them farm more effectively and efficiently.
Wessex Water measures reductions at their sources through regular supply sampling and online nitrate monitors. The monitoring is extensive and can involve up to 9,000 water samples and 1,500 soil samples per year across all the catchments. The analysis of these samples is then fed back to farmers.
This data is vital in understating the movement of potential pollutants. It provides information for farmers to update their fertiliser plans and timing of applications.
The catchment management programme has worked particularly well in addressing problems created at water sources. For the farmers in these water catchment areas, the programme has benefited them in terms of optimised and reduced use of nutrients and pesticides.
Partnership
Working in partnership between those who know how to manage water resources and those who know how to manage the land is more sustainable and cost effective than installing a treatment plant and has much better environmental outcomes.
Some of the initiatives that have been implemented include calibration of fertiliser spreaders, altering drilling dates of autumn-sown crops, using winter cover crops to avoid bare ground over the winter and avoiding excessive out-wintering of animals.
Wessex Water has assisted farmers in addressing these issues by providing funding to certain farmers on a case-by-case basis where necessary. It was very impressive to see the practical approach taken by both farmers and advisers from Wessex Water when it came to finding solutions to different problems.
The approach was very much results-driven rather than just for the sake of compliance. Farmers, and in particular British farmers, have an aversion to rules and regulations imposed upon them from either national or EU governments. Using a carrot rather than a stick approach has proven to be very successful in terms of improving water quality.
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